Constructing Realities

Question 1

Worldview

Answer 1

People’s reality based on shared cultural assumptions on how about how the world works

Question 2

Secularism

Answer 2

Separation of political or economic realms of society from religion or spirituality

Question 3

Metaphor

Answer 3

Figure of speech, word, or phrase is applied to an object or action in which it is not literally applicable

Question 4

Symbolic Actions

Answer 4

When activities such as myth, art, dance, etc. are used to dramatically depict meanings shared by a group of people

Question 5

Domains of Experience

Answer 5

Areas of human experience from which people borrow meaning to apply elsewhere

Question 6

Key Metaphor

Answer 6

One or more domains that a culture consistently borrows from and attributes to their experiences

Question 7

Kwakwaka’wakw Metaphor of “eating”

Answer 7

• Indigenous people from the NW Coast
• when someone dies, their soul is transferred to a salmon and when it is eaten, its soul transfers to a human child

Question 8

Symbolic Actions

Answer 8

Activities that dramatically depict shared meaning of people (ritual, art, myth, literature, games, music, etc)

Question 9

Hamatsa Dance

Answer 9

Cannibal Dance
- Initiates youth and represents the power of hunger and their ability to control greed and conflict

Question 10

3 primary stages of childhood to adulthood

Answer 10

• Described by Arnold Van Gennep
  1. Separation (leaving the familiar)
  2. Liminality (a time of testing, learning, and growth)
  3. Reintegration (a return)

Question 11

Key Scenarios

Answer 11

Dominant myths or stories that portray the values and beliefs of a specific society

Question 12

Ethnographic Time

Answer 12

Case studies or examples written some time ago that only show a screenshot in time and often hold bias

Question 13

Maori of New Zealand

Answer 13

• Beliefs connect to the physical environment
• Origin story has Sky Father and Mother Earth
• Humans are not seen as separate from the rest of nature

Question 14

Euro-North American

Answer 14

• See humans as a separate entity
• Have a right to the earth’s resources

Question 15

Shamanism

Answer 15

It varies from culture to culture, but generally spiritual practitioners, or shamans, enter an altered state of consciousness to seek guidance from spiritual beings

Question 16

Things that disrupted worldviews

Answer 16

• Colonization
• Christianity

Question 17

Changing Cultures and Worldviews

Answer 17

• Cultures are dynamic and susceptible to change
• Difficult to change the meaning ascribed to experiences
• People rely on their worldviews to make sense of change

Question 18

Acculturation

Answer 18

A process whereby culture receives traits from a dominant society

Question 19

Revitalization Movements

Answer 19

Revitalized belief systems or new belief systems forming altogether

Question 20

The Ghost Dance

Answer 20

Paiute named Wovoka had a vision about peace through a dance. It was adapted into many cultures (also a way to rebuild indigenous culture

Question 21

Wounded Knee Massacre

Answer 21

• Sioux people practiced Ghost Dance
• People fled, then surrendered at Wounded Knee
• Ended in a massacre but people came together withing their community

Question 22

Syncretism

Answer 22

The combination of 2 or more worldviews using old and new beliefs to create a new worldview

Question 23

Creole

Answer 23

The blending of African and European cultures to create something uniquely Caribbean

Question 24

Atheism

Answer 24

A lack of belief in supernatural forces or beings

Question 25

Secularism

Answer 25

A separation of political and economic systems from religious or spiritual ones